As with the increasing electricity demand, several countries are beginning to experience an energy crisis. As it appears, developing, developed, and underdeveloped countries have one thing in common- the energy crisis.
In Europe, the energy crisis has greatly affected the economy this past week. Many companies shut down operations as gas prices shot up by 250 per cent this year. As a result, the region’s reserves have hit a 10-year low ahead of the winter season.
Concurrently, Lebanon is set to experience a total blackout at the end of September. The country currently faces severe gas shortages failing several sectors of its economy; they have also had a total of seven (7) blackouts in several regions due to the energy crisis.
Even more, is the recent struggle for power in China as the country experiences a bleak energy crisis. The outages have rippled across most of eastern China, where the bulk of the population lives and works. Moreover, the power cuts have greatly slowed down manufacturing and industrial processes.
Why the Energy Crisis?
Pundits have it that the rising demand for electricity and shortage in supply is because several regions of the world are just beginning to reopen following the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. In China, for instance, there is increasing demand for electricity, particularly in steel industries which produce one of the most energy-intensive products.
However, given the rise in electricity demand, there has also been a simultaneous rise in the price of coal to generate electricity. Chinese regulators have withheld utilities from raising electricity rates to cover the rising cost of coal. So utilities have been slow in operating their power plants to run for more hours.
In Europe and other countries experiencing similar challenges around coal and gas plants, there is also a challenge of storage capacity of renewables.